Beauty in the Bump
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day eighty-three: After her confrontation with Sue, Quinn runs into Puck; he contemplates how affected he's been by her.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle, and then a third cycle Now here comes cycle 4! :D_

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**"Beauty in the Bump"  
Puck/Quinn**

Quinn felt good. She'd stood up to Coach Sylvester and in the process she'd had a few small victories. She'd gotten Glee Club its page in the yearbook. As much as they'd all been hesitant, knowing full well the fate it was likely to receive from their fellow McKinley students, they knew it was still important.

The bigger victory though – beyond fitting herself into her Cheerios uniform despite her baby bump – was the epiphany she'd had in the end. She didn't need to be a cheerleader anymore. She was happy in Glee, and she knew… that was where she belonged.

Now that she was out of Sue's office, she stopped to let her hair down, shaking it out. She let out a breath, her hand reaching to her belly. It was just growing more and more every day, it seemed. The bigger she got, the closer she was to the day… the birth of her daughter and her giving her away…

After she'd taken the moment she needed, she started walking along once again. She wasn't going to tell Mr. Schuester about this. With any hope, Coach Sylvester would end up having to tell him herself. She needed to change out of her uniform… she didn't need it anymore.

She hoped none of the others would see her like this… so of course not only did someone see her, the someone was none other than Puck.

They were coming down opposite ends of the hall, and they both stopped when they saw one another. Puck smirked, and Quinn looked aside, crossing her arms in front of herself for an instant. She decided to just go and get out of there.

Puck watched her until she'd moved past him, and then he turned and followed her. "What's with the uniform? Not that I don't appreciate it, clearly…" he nodded down. Quinn rolled her eyes before looking over her shoulder at him.

"None of your business," she tried to shake him off, but he hung on.

"Can't believe it still fits," he went on.

"Yeah, it's a big surprise to everyone," she spoke sarcastically. "Big surprise and a good laugh."

"I'm not laughing," he spoke simply. She stopped and turned back to him, a hand to her hip.

"Really," she challenged him.

"Well I figure it takes a lot of guts to put that on again," he nodded. She smirked, despite herself, which made him smile. "You don't need it though, you know?" he spoke up again.

"Well, good, because I'm changing as soon as I can," she moved along, giving him a look to make sure he wouldn't follow.

It was becoming more and more of a thing that he was able to get a reaction out of her, to get her heart thumping… but she wasn't about to forget everything because of a compliment here and there. He had hurt her, led her on, and she needed to stay strong. Still, he had boosted her ego… she'd keep it to herself, but it did make her feel good.

Puck had watched her go, again… he was seeing a lot of her walking away these days… it made him appreciate the times where she turned to look at him, for several reasons.

He loved to see her smile, to see the way it lit up her face, right to her eyes. He'd often seen her sarcastic little Cheerios smile, but it was not even close to the worth of her real smile.

Lately though, he'd been taken by more than her smile.

Everyone had been on baby bump watch ever since it had been revealed that she was pregnant. It had started, slowly, but it stayed mostly unseen, under her shirts.

And then one morning, he'd seen her walk down the hall… and there it was… the bump… That was his baby in there… It just struck him, how much it changed her, in good ways.

He didn't know what it was, but she just looked that much more stunning to him. She had always been a stunner, no doubt. For all the time he'd known her, from school and the likes, it had always been a reality, a constant.

But then something had happened, the moment that bump had gone and presented itself. It was not something he'd know how to put into words, but what he did know for certain was that he felt his eyes drawn to her every time.

He knew it was more than aesthetics, he knew that much. He was concerned both for her well being and that of their child. He wasn't sure what she'd end up doing – she seemed to be changing her mind now and then – but whatever happened, she'd see that he was there for her.

The problem was his tendency to still 'make time' with other girls. It had crushed out his progress with Quinn, something he'd regretted afterward. He needed her to see that he had good intentions toward her, and that everything he'd told her – despite his needs – was still true.

When he saw her again, she'd changed out of her uniform and into a white dress. She met his eye for just a moment, and he gave her an approving smile. She turned away, but he saw just the edge of a smile on her face before he couldn't see it anymore. As they all grouped up for the picture, he was already smiling.

THE END


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